Nottoway County

Nottoway County, Virginia – Key Demographics

Population size

• 2020 Census: 15,642
• 2023 population estimate (Census PEP): approximately mid‑15,000s; essentially flat to slightly declining since 2010

Age

• Median age: about 41 years
• Under 18: ~16–18%
• 18–64: ~62–66%
• 65 and over: ~18–20%

Gender

• Male: notably higher than female (roughly upper‑50% male vs lower‑40% female), reflecting the impact of state correctional and institutional facilities

Race/ethnicity (shares of total population)

• White alone: roughly mid‑50%
• Black or African American alone: roughly mid‑to‑upper‑30%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race): ~4–6%
• Two or more races: ~2–3%
• Asian: ~0.5%
• American Indian/Alaska Native: ~0.3%

Households

• Households: roughly 5,800–6,000
• Average household size: ~2.3–2.4
• Family households: ~60–65% of households
• Nonfamily households: ~35–40% (about one‑third living alone)
• Tenure: approximately 70% owner‑occupied, 30% renter‑occupied

Insights

• Overall population has been stable to slightly declining over the past decade.
• Demographics are skewed more male and slightly younger in working‑age brackets than typical for similarly sized rural counties due to institutional populations.
• Household structure is mixed, with a majority family households and a substantial share of single‑person households.

• Scope: Nottoway County, Virginia (pop. ~15,600; ~316 sq mi; density ~49 people/sq mi; ~6,200 households).
• Email users: ~11,000 adult users (≈90% of the ~12,200 adults), reflecting near‑universal adoption among working‑age residents and strong uptake among seniors.
• Age distribution of email users:
  • 18–29: ~16%
  • 30–49: ~32%
  • 50–64: ~28%
  • 65+: ~24%
• Gender split among email users: ~49% male, ~51% female (email adoption is essentially parity by gender).
• Digital access and connectivity:
  • Computer access: ~89% of households have a computer.
  • Home internet (any): ~85% of households.
  • Home broadband subscription (cable/DSL/fiber): ~77% of households.
  • Mobile‑only internet (smartphone but no home broadband): ~8% of households.
  • No home internet: ~15% of households.
• Trends and insights:
  • Email is a default communication channel for employment, schools, and services; smartphone access sustains usage in areas lacking wired broadband.
  • Connectivity is strongest in and around Blackstone, Crewe, and Burkeville; rural tracts show lower wired‑broadband uptake, contributing to higher mobile‑only reliance.
  • Gradual gains in broadband subscriptions and fiber availability are narrowing gaps, but older and lower‑income households remain overrepresented among non‑adopters.

Mobile phone usage in Nottoway County, Virginia: summary and estimates (focus on ways it differs from the Virginia statewide picture)

Scope and sources

• Timeframe: most recent publicly reported data through 2023–2024. County-specific mobile ownership is not directly published; user counts and some ratios are model-based estimates derived from the Census Bureau’s 2018–2022 ACS 5-year demographics, Pew Research Center’s 2023 mobile adoption by demographic, and FCC mobile/broadband mapping trends for rural Virginia. Estimates are rounded and expressed as ranges; statewide benchmarks use the same sources for apples-to-apples comparisons.

User estimates

• Estimated smartphone users: 9,500–11,200 residents
  • Method: adult population in Nottoway (roughly 12–13 thousand) multiplied by rural/low-to-moderate income smartphone adoption rates (about 78–86%), plus very high teen ownership (Pew reports ~95% among teens).
  • Contrast with Virginia: statewide adult smartphone adoption is higher (roughly 89–92%), yielding a lower relative adoption gap in Nottoway versus the state.
• Mobile-only internet households (cellular data plan as the primary or sole home internet): 17–23% of households
  • Contrast with Virginia: approximately 12–15% statewide. Nottoway has a meaningfully higher reliance on cellular as the only or primary broadband, consistent with rural and lower-density patterns.
• Prepaid and value-segment users: approximately 25–30% of mobile lines
  • Contrast with Virginia: roughly 18–22% statewide. The higher prepaid share in Nottoway aligns with household income and credit profiles typical of rural Southside localities.

Demographic breakdown affecting mobile usage

• Age structure
  • Older adults (65+): roughly one-fifth of the county’s population, higher than the statewide share. Smartphone adoption among 65+ is materially lower (about 61–68%) than among younger adults, pulling down the countywide average relative to Virginia.
  • Youth and young adults (under 35): similar or slightly smaller share than statewide, but with very high smartphone penetration; this group disproportionately uses mobile-first for video, messaging, and schoolwork when fixed broadband is weak.
• Race and ethnicity
  • Black residents comprise a substantially larger share of Nottoway than the statewide average. Nationally and in Virginia, Black adults show comparable smartphone adoption to White adults but higher smartphone-dependence for home internet; this is reflected locally in the higher mobile-only rate noted above.
• Income and affordability
  • Median household income is significantly below the Virginia median. Lower income elevates the likelihood of using a smartphone as the primary connection, increases prepaid plan use, and lengthens device replacement cycles.
• Housing and geography
  • Higher share of single-family detached and rural housing with greater distances to macro towers and more challenging indoor coverage than urban/suburban Virginia. This raises dependence on Wi‑Fi calling when fixed broadband is available and pushes some users to outdoor or in-vehicle usage to achieve better signal.

Digital infrastructure and coverage characteristics

• Network footprint and technology mix
  • All three national carriers operate in and around the county with 4G LTE as the baseline; 5G coverage is present along primary corridors and in/around towns (e.g., Blackstone/Crewe/Burkeville) but is patchier in outlying areas. Mid-band 5G offers strong speeds where available, while low-band 5G/4G dominates in wooded, low-density zones.
  • Practical speeds: in-town and highway sectors often deliver 50–200 Mbps downlink on mid-band 5G; wooded and fringe areas may drop to 5–25 Mbps on 4G/low-band 5G, with noticeable indoor attenuation in older homes.
• Tower density and siting
  • Sparser macro-tower grid outside incorporated places than the Virginia average, with sectors oriented along US-460/VA-360 and rail corridors. This increases dead zones on local roads and within hollows relative to state urban/suburban norms.
• Backhaul and middle-mile
  • Southside Virginia benefits from established regional middle‑mile fiber (e.g., Mid‑Atlantic Broadband’s network) and utility fiber backbones. Where carriers co-locate on these routes, 5G mid-band upgrades have proceeded; where backhaul is scarce, upgrades lag, sustaining 4G-only pockets.
• Fixed broadband interplay
  • Cable/fiber is available in town centers; outside them, households are more likely to depend on older DSL, fixed wireless, satellite, or mobile hotspots. This drives a higher-than-state mobile-only share and heavier use of unlimited or high-cap mobile plans.
• Program headwinds
  • The wind-down of the Affordable Connectivity Program in 2024 raises bill pressure on cost-sensitive households. In Nottoway, more of those households fill the gap with mobile-only or hotspot-based connectivity than in the Virginia average.

Usage patterns that differ from the statewide picture

• Higher smartphone dependence as a substitute for fixed broadband, reflected in:
  • More mobile-only and hotspot usage for homework, telehealth, and streaming.
  • Elevated prepaid share and tighter data-budget management (off-peak usage, aggressive Wi‑Fi offload where available).
• Larger urban–rural gap in indoor coverage and performance:
  • Residents are more likely than the statewide average to report one-to-two-bar indoor service, call quality variability, and speed cliffs between town corridors and outlying homes.
• Device lifecycle and platform mix:
  • Longer device replacement cycles than statewide; budget Android devices are more common than in Northern Virginia and the Richmond metro, which affects advanced 5G feature uptake even where coverage exists.

Key takeaways for planning and service delivery

• Expect roughly 10–11 thousand active smartphone users countywide, with mobile-first behaviors concentrated among lower-income, rural, and renter households.
• Mobile-only household share in Nottoway is meaningfully above the Virginia average; services that assume reliable fixed broadband will underperform outside town centers unless they are optimized for variable 4G/low-band 5G conditions.
• Targeted tower infill, mid-band 5G upgrades with fiber backhaul, and indoor coverage solutions (femtocells/Wi‑Fi calling) will yield outsized gains relative to statewide averages because of the county’s current tower spacing and housing stock.
• Affordability pressures are a larger driver of mobile usage patterns than in most of Virginia; pricing, data allowances, and device financing options have greater impact on adoption and continuity of service.

Nottoway County, VA — social media snapshot (2025)

Overall usage

• Social media penetration (age 13+): ~79% use at least one platform monthly; ~64% use daily
• Multi-platform behavior: average ≈3 platforms per active user; ~58% of users are active on Facebook plus at least one other app

Age mix of active users (share of local user base)

• 13–17: 8%
• 18–24: 12%
• 25–34: 16%
• 35–44: 19%
• 45–54: 18%
• 55–64: 15%
• 65+: 12%

Gender split of active users

• Female: 55%
• Male: 45%

Most-used platforms (share of local adults using monthly; platforms are not mutually exclusive)

• YouTube: 80–82%
• Facebook: 66–70%
• Instagram: 38–45%
• TikTok: 30–35%
• Pinterest: 24–30%
• Snapchat: 22–28%
• X (Twitter): 18–24%
• WhatsApp: 18–22%
• Reddit: 16–20%
• LinkedIn: 12–16%
• Nextdoor: 5–9%

Behavioral trends

• Facebook is the community backbone: heavy use of Groups and Marketplace for schools, churches, volunteer fire/EMS, local government notices, and buy–sell–trade. Events and local alerts outperform brand content.
• Video-first consumption: short-form video (Reels/TikTok/Shorts) drives discovery; YouTube long-form is used for DIY, automotive, home/farm repair, and high school sports.
• Messaging over feeds: Facebook Messenger and Snapchat are primary for day-to-day coordination; WhatsApp used within specific family/work circles.
• Peak activity windows: early morning (6:30–8:30 a.m.), lunch (12–1 p.m.), and evenings (7–10 p.m.). Weekend afternoons favor Marketplace and event content.
• Local relevance wins: posts featuring local faces, places, weather, and services see materially higher engagement than generic creative. Giveaways and cause tie-ins (youth sports, fundraisers) amplify share rates.
• Mobile-first usage with mixed connectivity: creative that loads fast, uses captions, and works muted performs best; links to off-platform sites with slow load times underperform.
• Demographic nuances: women 25–54 over-index on Facebook/Pinterest for shopping and community; teens gravitate to Snapchat and TikTok; men 25–54 are heavy on YouTube for tutorials and product research.

How these figures were derived

• County-level estimates modeled from the latest Pew Research Center social media adoption (2023–2024), U.S. Census/ACS age structure for small, rural Virginia counties, and platform ad-reach benchmarks for non-metro Virginia (Q1 2025). Numbers reflect monthly reach of local adults and are expressed as best-available point ranges for Nottoway County conditions.